Shoe bottom construction



y 1941- c. H. DANIELS ET L 2,242,941

SHOE BOTTOM CONSTRUCTION Filed May 19, 1939 men/Z0715 26 c4400:- h.D/Y/WEL 5 9035 7'11 We? ?y mamJ/mom- Patented May 20, 1941 UNlTE STATESFFHQE SHOE BOTTOM CONSTRUCTHON Claude H. Daniels, Greenwich, Conn, andRobert I. Wood, Mansfield, Mass; said Wood assignor to said Daniels 2Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in shoe bottom construction andto methods for bottoming shoes, more particularly to the manner offilling the bottom cavity in shoes of the type having the upper lastedover the insole, such as Goodyear welt shoes, pre-welt shoes, Compo,McKay and any shoes in which a bottom cavity is adapted to receive afiller.

It is customary practice to fill the bottom cavity of welt shoes with aplastic compound termed a bottom filler which must be spread and leveledoff in the cavity. The bottom filler ordinarily dries, becomes hard andmaterially stiffens the forepart of the shoe. Sheet material such assponge rubber has been used for filling the bottom cavity but must becut to exact size to fit the cavity.

It is an object of our invention to fill the bottom cavity with rubber,cork, felt or similar flexible material and to obtain a close fit aroundthe margin of the cavity without requiring exact cutting to size or" thepiece or pieces used to fill the cavity.

It is further an object of our invention to employ a flexible strip ofmaterial for lining the marginal edge of the bottom cavity and tosubstantially fill the forepart with a separate piece or pieces or by acontinuation of the marginal strip.

Further objects and advantages of our improvements will be more readilyapparent from the following description of preferred embodiments thereofas disclosed in the attached drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view showing the bottom of a Goodyear welt shoe beforethe outsole is applied;

Fig. 2 is a similar plan view showing a modified construction;

Fig. 3 is'a fragmentary perspective view of the strip material used inFig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View of the strip material used inFig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a vertical cross section taken through the forepart of aGoodyear welt shoe having the improved bottom construction;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the piece used in the forepart as shown in Fig.1;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary plan view of a shoe bottom showing a furthermodification of the edge i2 being lasted over the marginal edge of theinsole i i. A lining l6 may also be provided for the upper. A welt 28 isapplied in the usual manner, and the parts are secured by the stitchingto a flange 22 of the insole. The cavity in the shoe bottom within thearea bounded by the flange 22 is filled in our construction with spongerubber 24 or other suitable flexible material, the outsole 26 is thenapplied and secured to the welt by the stitching l8.

One of the preferred methods of filling the bottom cavity is disclosedin Figs. 1, 3 and 6. Strip material 39 of sponge rubber or some othersuitable flexible material is out as shown in Fig. 3, having a serratedor irregular edge 32 on one side. The strip 3B is laid in the bottom ofthe shoe and adhesively or otherwise secured thereto as shown in Fig. 1.The serrations 32 upon the inner edge facilitate the bending of thestrip as shown at the toe 3 and heel 3'0. In order to substantially fillthe forepart of the shoe, a piece of sponge rubber sheet material 38 iscut, as shown in Fig. 6, having the serrations 40 on the opposite edgesthereof. It will be apparent that it is not necessary for this piece 38to exactly fit the cavity in the forepart, and therefore different sizesof the piece 38 are not required for each change in the size of theshoe. The piece 38, due to the serrations or irregular edge, willinterfit with the marginal strip 30. The strip and forepart piece 38 maybe quickly laid in place and suitably secured by adhesive or otherwise.It will also be apparent that the marginal strip and the forepart piecemight be made with straight edges instead of the serrated edges shown,and that a plurality of pieces might be cut to fill the forepart insteadof the single piece 38.

Another method of filling the bottom cavity is shown in Figs. 2 and 4,in which the strip 42 of rubber or some other suitable material isemployed. One end M of the strip is cut off at an angle and laid inplace against the flange 22 of the insole, and the strip is continuedaround the entire marginal edge of the bottom cavity and then looped asshown at to substantially fill the forepart of the shoe bottom.

A further modification is shown in Fig. 7. Strip material 59 is usedhaving at least one edge segmented or slit by the cuts 52 which permitbending of the strips as shown. The forepart of the cavity may be filledwith a single strip as in Fig. 2 or a plurality of pieces may b used asin Fig. 7.

It is to be understood that any suitable preformed material may be usedwhich is flexible so that it may be laid in place as described, such asleather, rubber, cork, felt or composition material. This method ofconstruction reduces the stifiening of the shoe which results from theuse of a hard bottom filler. Any strip or cord material may be used forfilling the cavity which may be wound around the cavity. It is to benoted that a close fit is obtained at the margin of the cavity withoutthe trouble of cutting a piece to exact size. In the claims, segmentedis intended to refer to the provision of slits or notches which may beused to prevent bulging and crinkling when the strip material is bent asshown.

We claim:

1. In a shoe of the type having a bottom cavity between the insole andthe outsole, a strip of sponge rubber laid around the margin of thecavity, said strip having a serrated inner edge and an elliptical pieceof sponge rubber having a serrated outer edge laid in the cavity at theforepart of the shoe and approximately filling the cavity by having theserrations of the strip and the elliptical piece in interfittingrelationship.

2. In a shoe of the type having a bottom cavity between the insole andthe outsole, a rubber strip laid around the margin of the cavity, saidstrip having an irregular inner edge and a rubber piece having anirregular outer edge laid in the cavity at the forepart of the shoe andapproximately filling the cavity by having the irregular edges of thestrip and piece in interfitting relationship.

CLAUDE H. DANIELS. ROBERT I. WOOD.

